How to Capture “Lightning” in a Bottle on Prime Day

Are you prepared for Prime Day? In this post, we’ll share some background on Prime Day and look at what can you do as a seller to capitalize on the increased mid-July traffic.

Prime Day 101

In a recent newsletter, Amazon.com, Inc. (“Amazon”) described last year's Prime Day, which is the one-day-only shopping event for Prime members, as "the biggest day in Amazon’s history.” Stop for a second and let that sink in. This means that Prime Day was bigger than any day in Q4 2016, which was Amazon’s most successful Q4 to date. Amazon launched the first Prime Day in 2015 with mixed success. Last year’s event resulted in incredible sales, including more than two million toys and over 90,000 televisions. While the date for Prime Day 2017 hasn’t yet been announced, sellers are gearing up for another successful mid-summer sale.

Update 6/29/17: Amazon recently announced that the third annual Prime Day will take place on July 11th, 2017. 

Prime Day offers a potential boost in sales for merchants during a quarter that is traditionally slower for most items. Deals are only available to members of Amazon’s Prime program, allowing the company to offer another perk for members and likely increasing Prime sign ups. In other words, it’s a win for buyers, sellers and Amazon itself.

Strike with Lightning

Amazon’s Lightning Deals program is especially popular on Prime Day and the days surrounding it. In the seller newsletter, Amazon put it this way: “Running Lightning Deals during the week of Prime Day can lead to greater exposure and sales, even after that week is over.” That exposure and potential increase in sales comes at a price. Since Lightning Deal fees vary, based on factors such as the marketplace selected and when the deal is being run, merchants could see a significant increase in the cost of running a Lightning Deal on Prime Day and the surrounding days. However, this can also be an incredible opportunity for clearing inventory, boosting seller rankings and more.

Getting Started with Lightning Deals

How to submit products for Lightning Deals varies according to the type of store you have. Vendors can submit any product for consideration. Sellers can see if any of their products are eligible to participate in the program by checking the Lightning Deals dashboard in their Seller Central account. Eligible items will be listed as “recommendations” from Amazon. Note that if an item is eligible, being accepted is not guaranteed. (The deal submission period for Prime Day 2017 has passed, but it’s never too early to start planning for next year!) As always, Amazon wants to provide an exceptional experience for customers. To that end, there are several requirements that must be met for sellers to submit items for Prime Day, including:

• Must be a Prime seller (whether through the FBA program or Seller Fulfilled Prime)
• Product review average of at least 3 stars
• Deal must offer 20% or higher discount from item’s average price on Amazon.com in the past 90 days

You can learn more about Amazon’s eligibility requirements here.

Best Practices for Prime Day 

If you missed the opportunity to submit your products for a Lightning Deal or simply opted to promote your items in other ways, there are still steps you can take to capitalize on the increased traffic surrounding Prime Day. You might want to consider running an Amazon Sponsored Products ad or dropping your prices during that time. No matter how you’re approaching Prime Day, it’s a good idea to make sure you have plenty of products in stock. If you’re a private-label seller, take another look at your product listings and photos. Optimize your listings to ensure that buyers can find your products. To ensure that your products are available on Prime Day, be sure that your shipments are scheduled to arrive at an FBA facility by mid-June.

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We'll share details about the date for Prime Day 2017 on Facebook and Twitter as soon as we have the inside scoop on the confirmed date. Sign up for our email newsletter to receive other eCommerce industry news. Best wishes for a successful Prime Day this July!